Two area hospitals were honored today by the state Department of Health with the first "Excellence in Health Care Compliance" awards.

Blue Mountain Health System was a double-winner, with Palmerton Hospital (right) and Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital in Lehighton (below) among only seven of the 244 hospitals overseen by the state to be
honored with the award. That puts them ahead of 97 percent of the other hospitals in the state.

The department recognized facilities that had no health citations
during the last state licensure survey and no major life safety code
deficiencies on the last building inspection. All department-licensed hospitals
were eligible for the awards and did not need to apply to be considered, the state health department said.

In a prepared statement, acting Health Sec. Michael Wolf said, "“As the
industry regulators, we understand the importance of identifying best practices
and recognizing the strengths that we have here in Pennsylvania. This new award was developed to identify facilities demonstrating excellence
in meeting state regulations and positively reinforce those actions.”

“In my
30-plus years of working in health care, I have never been a part of an organization
that has been able to accomplish what we at the Blue Mountain Health System
have been able to accomplish,” Andrew Harris, Blue Mountain president and CEO said. “Our staff
has risen to today’s healthcare challenges over and over, and has raised the
level of quality care that we provide to the highest of standards and
compliance. We are extremely proud to receive this award."

WOW!! that headline sure is a DISS to those hospitals!
why wouldn't you think it was Blue Mountain Heath?
is it because Lehigh Valley Hospital is the large hospital and didn't achieve such a high honor?

It would be nice to see a headline that showed how hard Blue Mountain Health worked to achieve THESE awards!

the Staff and Management have worked hard to help the community's they serve, a little RESPECT would have been nice to show off their accomplishments.

Did Lehigh Valley Hospital have no health citations during the last state licensure survey and no major life safety code deficiencies on the last building inspection?

be nice to the small hospitals as they also take great care of their patients!

Posted By: Mike | Oct 18, 2012 1:54:37 PM

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ABOUT THE WRITERS

TIM DARRAGH has been reporting and editing the news for 30 years, most of it at The Morning Call. For much of that time, he's been doing award-winning investigative and in-depth reporting projects. Tim created the three-year-long Change of Heart project, and wrote a series on the state's fractured food inspection system that led to widespread improvements in food safety. Meantime, that novice jogger you see plodding along the streets around Bethlehem Township? That would be Tim.